After his explanation of the importance of symbology, Hazrat Inayat Khan now unfolds the symbolic meaning of wine.
Wine is considered sacred, not only in the Christian faith, but in many other religions also. In the ancient religion of the Zoroastrians Jam-i Jamshed, the bowl of wine from which Jamshed drank deep, is a historical fact. Among the Hindus, Shiva considered wine sacred, and in Islam, though wine is forbidden on earth, yet in heaven it is allowed. Hauz-i Kauthar, the sacred fountain of heaven, about which there is so much spoken in Islam, is a fountain of wine.
Wine is symbolic of the soul’s evolution. Wine comes from the annihilation of grapes; immortality comes from the annihilation of self. The bowl of poison, which is known in many mystic cults also, suggests the idea of wine, not a sweet wine, but a bitter wine. When the self turns into something different from what it was before, it is like the soul being born again. This is seen in the grape turning into wine. The grape, by turning into wine, lives; as a grape it would have vanished in time. But, by turning into wine it only loses its individuality, and not its life. The self-same grape lives as wine; and the longer it lives, the better the wine becomes. For a Sufi, therefore, the true sacrament is the turning of one’s grape-like personality, which has a limited time to live, into wine, in order that nothing of one’s self may be lost, but that on the contrary, it may be amplified and even perfected. This is the essence of all philosophy and the secret of mysticism.
The ancient method of teaching the mystery of life was to give it in the form of a legend. The meaning of the legend of Lot’s wife is that it was owing to the love and intercession of Abraham that two angels were sent to Lot, to warn him of the coming destruction of two cities and to advise him to go to the mountains. At first, Lot was not willing to leave the cities, but in the end he agreed to go. His sons-in-law failed him by not accompanying him, but his wife and two daughters went with him on the journey to the mountains. And they were told that on no account must they look back; and when his wife did so all the same, she was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his two daughters went on, and they reached the cave of the mountain, which was Lot’s destination.
The two towns that were to be destroyed represent the North Pole and the South Pole, the two poles of the world, for all the treasure of the earth, all possessions and power and fame that belong to the earth are subject to destruction. And this was taught to Lot, the human soul, who was related to Abraham, the divine soul, whose name is derived from Brahma, the Creator. The relationship between Lot and Abraham represents the relationship between the human soul and the Creator. The two angels were the angels of light and of reason. When the light comes to man, its first teaching is to warn the soul of the disaster that awaits all that is subject to death and destruction. It is this lesson that is called in Sanskrit the lesson of Vairagya: when man’s eyes are opened to see all that he likes and dislikes and wishes to hold and possess, is subject to destruction and death.
There are five bodies considered by the mystics of old to be the vehicles of the soul. These are called: Anandamaya akasha, body of joy, Vijnanamaya akasha, body of wisdom; Manomaya akasha, body of mind; Pranamaya akasha, body of ether; Annamaya akasha, body of earth. This last is the receptacle of food. It lives on earthly food, and if it is starved of that, it dies, for it is made of earth; it lives on earth. The one which is the receptacle of ether, and which is called Pranamaya akasha, is that part of man’s being which lives by the breath and by taking in air, and if it is starved of air, it cannot live. These two bodies form the material part, the physical part of man’s being; and it is these two receptacles which are referred to in the legend as the two sons-in-law.
To be continued…